Sometimes, even with the best of intentions, I have difficulty remembering to make my medical appointments. My husband has been reminding me all week that I have an appointment to make. Sometimes I have asked him to please remind me during the day–after all, I cannot make the appointment in the late evening. Sometimes, during the day, as I have been standing in the kitchen with my hands in the sink full of soapy water, I have thanked him and told him that I had my mind on it.
This afternoon, I made the appointment.
In English, when we say the word, “remember”, we sometimes speak of something that happens passively: “I just remembered that I need to call and make an appointment…” The remembering is akin to the thing gliding across the mind like a wave on its way across the sea. As we age, we assume it is normal to have problems “remembering”. I cannot “remember” where I put my glasses…
We promise people that we will “remember” them in prayer, or say that we will “remember” to do something for them; but what will we do when our remembering can be so fleeting? We must not only speak better but do better with our remembering.
In the Hebrew language, the word for “remember” is an active word. It is not a word that leaves room for an incident to pass over the mind like a wave and remain unfinished. It means “to call to mind,” “to name,” or “to mention”. If we bother to name something, and it requires doing, then we must also bother to name its need. If it is the wrong time for doing, then the responsible acdt of remembering is to aid ourselves in remembering at the right time (to write it down or to set ourselves an alarm). Then our remembering will cease being like a wave and begin to be an act of discipline dedicated as part of our spiritual journey.
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